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Chapter 1256: The Loyalty of House-Elves
🕑 Added 2024-10-12 14:48:55 +0000 UTCHermione glared at him and walked towards the house-elf closest to them in the room.
She kindly asked about their current living conditions and encouraged them to demand wages and vacations and safeguard their own rights.
She was already experienced in this area and knew how to communicate with house-elves.
Evan was still pondering whether this matter had anything to do with Voldemort, as well as the crucial treasure of Hufflepuff.
He speculated that the clues to the treasure might also be related to the house-elves — perhaps there was some connection?
The riddle Hufflepuff had left behind mentioned that "the key to unlocking the treasure is integrity and loyalty, and all you need to do is trust your humblest friend." Evan guessed that the "humblest friend" referred to house-elves.
Hogwarts' kitchens not only housed many house-elves but were also Hufflepuff's favorite place. Beneath the castle's kitchens, Evan had discovered a crypt filled with house-elf heads, and in the depths of the crypt, there was a demonic altar. The demon summoned also took the form of a house-elf...
House-elves, house-elves, everything seemed to be connected to them.
Perhaps he could find something among the house-elves in London's Underworld.
Evan had such a hunch, but there were too few clues at present and everything was still unknown.
He asked Fred about the territory of these house-elves and the Underground World of London, but neither Fred nor George had been there. They only knew that the entrance to this Underground World on the edge of the Wizarding World was deep in Knockturn Alley, where werewolves, Dark wizards and other Dark creatures mingled.
The so-called Underground World was the dark side of the British Wizarding community. As for the specific situation inside, Fred wasn’t sure.
"About a month ago, George and I went to the Murderer’s Bar in Knockturn Alley for a drink. That place is a bit like the Hog’s Head in Hogsmeade, with lots of interesting folks, and you can hear things you wouldn’t hear in the Leaky Cauldron," said Fred. "We overheard someone talking about werewolves recently attacking the house-elves in the Underground World. Under the werewolves’ assault, many house-elves lost their territory and were in a miserable situation. George and I had a brainwave and thought we could hire those house-elves. Hermione’s always going on about that sort of thing, right? Plus, we really needed more help, so we sent Dobby to check it out."
“And they agreed?”
"Yeah … not all of them, but quite a few house-elves were willing to come out to work," Fred continued. "After all, they didn’t want to stay there and get killed by werewolves, Dark wizards, or starve to death. But these house-elves refused to swear allegiance to a new wizard or be paid for their work—they saw it as a great insult. How could a house-elf work for wages? That’s not the mark of a good house-elf. In fact, no wizard would ever hire a house-elf. It’s all thanks to Dobby that it worked out, though we’re not sure what he said to convince them. In the end, they agreed to help, unpaid, and we just provide them with food, but it doesn’t count as payment. Well, you could say it’s more like a donation or aid..."
House-elves were truly contradictory creatures. Who knows how those ancient wizards had trained them to develop such a twisted, servile nature? Even after so many years, they hadn't changed at all.
"They don’t need wages or holidays, and they eat so little — just the cheapest coarse bread is enough. Yet they’re more capable than most wizards, with endless energy and strength. They’ve been a huge help to us," said Fred. "We’ve recruited over a hundred house-elves and let go of the wizards we had hired before."
Hermione let out a heavy huff. Fred’s words made her even more displeased — this was pure exploitation.
She walked over to the house-elf who was wrapping magical items and tried to communicate with her.
At first, the conversation went well. This house-elf, named Senya, was loyal to an ancient Wizarding family that had disappeared more than five hundred years ago. It was the Wizarding family to which her ancestors once belonged.
She knew almost nothing about the past deeds of this Wizarding family and could only remember the master's surname.
This was an obscure wizard surname, and no famous figures had ever appeared under this name.
At least, Evan didn't know and had never seen the family’s crest in the book on heraldry.
According to Senya, the last member of this family died on the battlefield, the famous Battle of England and France.
This war, which was originally started by Muggle countries, was the longest-lasting conflict in the world, lasting intermittently for one hundred and sixteen years. In the middle and late stages of the war, wizards from almost all Western Europe were involved.
Many pure-blood Wizarding families that Evan knew of had been wiped out because of this war. The heraldry book documented tens of thousands of pure-blood Wizarding families that once operated in Britain — a staggering number, especially considering the current Wizarding population in the country, which made it hard to believe.
But this was indeed the case, which showed just how quickly wizards had come and gone over the past thousand years.
The fact that some pure-blood Wizarding families had survived until today showed just how difficult it had been for them.
After losing their master, Senya‘s ancestors followed other house-elves in similar circumstances and migrated to this place.
Several centuries had passed since then.
Times changed, the world transformed, but the only thing that remained unchanged was the humble loyalty of the house-elves to their masters. This long-lost Wizarding surname had unexpectedly been passed down in this way. For more than five centuries, Senya's ancestors had been waiting for their master to return...
Although they all knew that this was impossible, their loyalty had never changed.
Senya's parents, like her, were born in the Underground World.
They had each served different wizards, and the wizard surnames they inherited were also different. Senya and her brother each inherited loyalty to the Wizarding families their parents had served. House-elves in the Underground World continued to reproduce and survive in this unique way.
One could imagine how emotional Hermione was after hearing Senya's story.
Their conversation was going smoothly, but the moment Hermione mentioned wages, the seemingly docile house-elf in front of her immediately widened her eyes, let out a sharp scream, and shook her head vigorously, like a rattling drum.
"She's wasting her time," said Fred. "Alright, Evan, let her talk to the house-elves. I'll show you where we're really making a lot of money. We've just developed these more serious products, and we want your expert advice."
As he spoke, he led Evan deeper into the room.
"Funny how it happened — you wouldn’t believe how many people, even those who work at the Ministry of Magic, can’t do a decent Shield Charm. All they do is wave their wands around wildly and achieve nothing..."
Indeed, the quality and overall strength of wizards was really a surprising topic.
